Hot Potato

Sir:

. . . The "Hot Potato" story [TIME, April 27] raised my blood pressure to the boiling point! As a citizen of Illinois, [a public school with Roman Catholic nuns as teachers] is not "perfectly acceptable," and I would like to know what can be done to stop this sort of thing.

I would be just as indignant if it were Lutherans or Presbyterians . . . And I should think that Catholics would deplore it just as much as I do. It is not American.

KATHERINE R. SCHROEDER Hinsdale, Ill.

Sir:

We are Protestants, but as a matter of choice, our three boys go to Catholic school. My concern for Mrs. Larson was not over the legal question--she may have a case--but rather over her inability to overcome her prejudices and reap the benefits that may be had only in a school that teaches religion as an integral part of daily life. . .

Too long we have separated religion and living . . . Are children to be blamed if they grow up to believe that the three Rs and material success are more important than honor, integrity and spiritual values? . . .

Mrs. Larson has labeled the textbooks and hymns Catholic, but I have studied them carefully and believe them to be merely Christian, for I have seen nothing in them that cannot be verified by any standard Bible.

She says there are Catholic pictures on the walls and religious statues given as prizes, but it is a child's way to collect pictures and souvenirs of those they admire. Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio have decorated half the boys' rooms in America. Are they more worthy than Christ or the Virgin Mary, or some of the great saints of history? . .

BETTIE GRANT Santa Ana, Calif.

Let George Do It

Sir:

In that picture of Stalin's pallbearers [TIME, April 20], Georgy Malenkov is kidding no one, perhaps not even the onlookers, who might consider it more prudent to be silent.

As an old iceman and shipyard worker, I defy anyone to try to carry a coffin with the position his hand is in. The handle would slip out of his fingers. And it is not even resting on his shoulder. And can't you almost hear him groaning under his burden? Just try to carry a load and see what happens to the other arm. It just doesn't drape gracefully at your side . . .

I'd like to know what kind of meat they feed them on to be able to carry such heavy things like coffins onehanded. Maybe it had wheels under it, huh ?

TONY DIAMONTI Scranton, Pa.

Sir:

... A very interesting photograph . . . Beria and Malenkov, at the forefront, are merely grasping the bier handles, almost at arm's length, while Molotov is clearly out of step . . . Could it be that some unseen slaves, hidden behind the "bier curtain," are doing the real work?

JEAN R. MARTIN

Bellefontaine, Ohio

Taxi!

Sir:

Was your description of the London taxi [April 20] written by an American whose knowledge of England is confined to Hollywoodery, or by a lippitudinous Londoner? Let me disabuse you and him and many an innocent reader: that vehicle, unlike the North American cab, is designed for its special job--which includes the easy coping with as much baggage as any passenger is likely to have . . . And far from being a sort of automobilic coelacanth . . . the London taxi has steadily evolved and has always been equipped with the best current power unit and general equipment . . .

N. T. GRIDGEMAN

Ottawa

Sir:

With some of your criticisms of London taxis any Londoner must agree . . . The basic design of the London taxi has changed little with the years, yet . . . the "rubber bulb horn and the wheezy engine" have now been superseded by a large and growing fleet of "radio cabs," conforming ... to a design intended to make turning and parking easy in narrow streets, yet clean, up-to-date and as comfortable as most cabs in most cities. We still have a few Georgian relics . . . but they are vanishing fast. Some, no doubt, have gone to California where, for the next few years, they may serve to perpetuate a legend (fog, a barrel-organ and a 1921 Unic taxi honking its way through the murk). The remainder are finding their way, rather quickly, to the junkyard.

EWAN BUTLER Deputy Editor Time & Tide London

Aunt Molly Sir:

Your Molotov cover [April 20] is excellent--not only because of good painting and all that red, but also because Ranting Aunty Molly is right flush in the center of the picture and the background is blank--for a change.

GERALD N. WINN Glencoe, 111.

Sir:

. . . Was TIME overstocked on red ink?

WILLIAM A. SNYDER

Asbury Park, NJ.

Star-Gazing

Sir:

I wonder how many of your readers caught you . . . "stargazing" on the People page of April 27?

By actual count, there were 20 stars, calculated as follows:

General of the Army Omar Bradley. . . . 5 Major General Emmett O'Donnell 2 General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower 5 Lieut. General Walter Bedell Smith.... 3 General of the Army George Marshall. . 5

Total 20

HAL STROUBE Warrant Officer, U.S.A. (ret.) Cairo, 111.

Sir:

. . . Did anyone wind up in an arithmetic class? Eisenhower (5), Smith (3), Marshall (4), Bradley (4), and O'Donnell (2) add up to 18 stars.

ALAN JEFFREY Los Angeles

P:For TIME'S People researcher--and TIME'S readers--an abacus, a telescope and a subscription to the Army, Navy, Air Force Journal. Correct star-count:

Generals of the Army Eisenhower, Marshall and Bradley, five each; General Smith, four; Lieut. General O'Donnell, three. Total: 22.--ED.

Turner Sees Red

Sir:

The article . . . about the sports-car race held at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas [TIME, April 20] was a shock and a joke to many airmen stationed here at Turner Air Force Base, Ga. Turner was the first base to sponsor such a race ... on Oct. 25, 1952 . . . The sole advantage gained was General LeMay's prestige. We of Turner Air Force Base feel bitter toward the project and can guarantee, when Turner has another race, the airmen will not support it ...

Turner made $35,000 from the race ... It is believed that the proceeds may have been for the use of airmen's living conditions, but Turner has not proven it to us ...

(SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD) Albany, Ga.

Sir:

. . . The amount of time spent working on the project by all ranks . . . was not "off-duty" time by any means . . . Now, six months afterward, the money is still in the bank (we hope), with no definite project in mind for improving airmen's living conditions . . . The "Big Cigar" (LeMay) has lost a lot of respect of his "men" here because of this . .

(SERVICEMAN'S NAME WITHHELD) Albany, Ga.

Collector's Complaint

Sir:

Your beautiful coverage of our Kress Collection (April 27), in both story and color illustrations, is greatly appreciated. Of course, I'm afraid Houston won't be happy about your assigning their wonderful Pannini, The Pantheon and Other Monuments of Ancient Rome, to New Orleans. But then, we won't be able to live without our St. Lucy Led to Her Martyrdom by Fungai, which your article placed in Houston. So as not to make a liar out of TIME, I shall suggest to Houston Director Lee Malone that we swap the two paintings once a year.

ALONZO LANSFORD

Director Isaac Delgado Museum of Art New Orleans

Rank Injustice

Sir:

Congratulations on the picture that accompanied your article "Jolt for Japan" [April 20]. You couldn't have chosen a better person to photograph if you had combed the Far East. The "G.I." on the right is Captain Karl Spannare . . . Without much doubt, he spent more time and money as a shopper than any other man in our outfit.

JOHN A. BRADLEY Evanston, 111.

P:TIME'S apologies for demoting Shopper Spannare.--ED.

Crazy Over Horses

Sir:

I was very pleased to see those two pictures by W. R. Leigh in the current [April 20] TIME, [but] it is obvious that he was never a cowboy himself.

In regard to that remark you credit to him--"those tired old nags at the rodeo"--any old cowboy will agree that the present-day rodeo bucker is twice as rough--and hard to stay with--as the wildest mustang that was ever foaled . . .

It might be added, of course, that the average rodeo bronc rider couldn't hold down a job as a working cowboy.

EDGAR WRAY THISTLETHWAITE Independence, Calif.

Passing the Bar

Sir:

As a recent law graduate (Yale, 1952) . . . I must disagree heartily with the conclusions of Dean Harno [TIME, April 20]. One year of law-school training and a three-weeks "cram" ... are more than enough preparation to pass the bar exam ... I suggest that the best curriculum change the law schools could adopt is to substitute some sort of interning program for what now follows the first year of law school . . . The law schools don't do any harm. They're just stymied by the fact that the best way to train a lawyer is to let him work for another lawyer who knows more than he does.

JAMES M. PINES New York City

The Readers Measure the Mayor

Sir:

... If Bowron (as he claims) is "The Nation's Most Respected Mayor" [April 20], such respect must be centered east of the Rockies in the vicinity of TIME'S editorial offices. We have never had the "habit" of respecting highhanded political "tactics" here.

VOLNEY BROWN JR. Los Angeles

Sir:

Your article . . . makes it abundantly clear why my Los Angeles High School son demands that we cancel our subscription to TIME . . .

As for [Opposition Candidate] Poulson being "undistinguished"--how misinformed can you get? ... In short, I hope you live to rue the day.

MRS. ROBERT H. THOMPSON Los Angeles

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.